Chapter 160

The arrow-fish flying boat flew toward Anping Prefecture. Since it is adjacent to Datong Prefecture, at the speed of the arrow-fish flying boat, one day was enough.

Zhao Xing came out to get some air, while Long Xiao focused on steering the flying boat.

One day was enough for Long Xiao, a thick-skinned martial artist, to walk out of his sadness. He became talkative again: "Why is it always raining? It makes me unable to see anything. Can you make this rain stop?"

Zhao Xing said: "How can the rainfall of a prefecture be changed just like that? Do I not want to live anymore?"

In normal times, in the inland areas, it wouldn't matter if there was a little more or less rain.

But now it is the eve of the Great War against the Barbarians, and both Datong Prefecture and Anping Prefecture are important border areas.

If a small fry like Zhao Xing dared to modify the rainfall, regardless of whether he is a genius of the Ten Yang Grotto-Heaven, even if he were a genius of the Ten Great Grotto-Heavens, the Ministry of War would not hesitate to cut off his head.

Long Xiao was just making conversation: "We have already arrived at the territory of Anping Prefecture. Tell me, why did the Military Realm give you such a mission? You even have to manage affairs of the Yin Realm."

Yin Spirits reside in the Yin Realm, which has a similar function to the Military Realm. But there are only two types of people who can enter the Yin Realm: one is the dead, whose souls, if not destroyed, are automatically absorbed by the Yin Realm. If they are not conferred as Yin Spirits, they dissipate after a period of time.

This duration is usually three to five generations.

Because after three or five generations, the descendants basically stop offering incense, so they naturally dissipate.

Another situation is cultivating to the Third-Rank Primordial Soul Realm, which allows one to break free from the shackles of the life soul and go to the Yin Realm.

The Yin Realm was not created by the Great Zhou, but has existed since ancient times.

It is difficult to enter, but not difficult to leave. Incense guidance, magic soul-summoning spells, and even the natural birth of entrances where Yin and Yang intersect can allow Yin souls to leave the Yin Realm.

When Zhao Xing was making side money in Gucheng earlier, that situation belonged to the intersection of Yin and Yang, where an entrance appeared. It was also because wandering souls could not enter due to other abnormal reasons and stayed in the Yin lands of the mortal world.

Therefore, when a new dynasty of destiny is born, the first thing it does is take over the Yin Realm and establish the Yin Spirit system to prevent Yin souls from causing harm to the human world.

Zhao Xing also thought carefully about Long Xiao's question.

"At the Seventh-Rank realm, it is not just agricultural officials; all professions can summon spirits. It is very likely that I will have a great chance of being conferred a Seventh-Rank official position after completing the nine-phase mission, which is why I have this training."

"Long Xiao, have you ever summoned a spirit?"

Long Xiao nodded: "I summoned the Life-Commanding Duke once, and the Great Spirit True Person once, but that was seven years ago."

"Only twice? What was the cost?" When Zhao Xing was rising in his previous life, the Yin Spirit system had already started to have problems, so he played less.

But summoning spirits requires a cost, mainly because the process of sending them back is difficult.

"Twice is already a lot; the cost is not small," Long Xiao said. "When martial artists in the army summon spirits, they usually use essence blood as a medium. The second time I summoned the Great Spirit True Person, it was at a life-and-death moment, so I had no choice but to pay 50% of my essence blood as the cost."

"That time I lost at least 10 years of my lifespan. Later, I was granted a title and went to the temple to extend my life; I don't know how much I made up for."

Long Xiao recalled: "There was really no other way. The situation at that time was too dangerous. If I didn't summon, I would have died directly, so how could I care about losing lifespan?"

"It's better to be a priest; the cost for them to summon spirits is very small."

Zhao Xing said: "That depends on which deity you are serving. If the span is too large, priests also have to lose lifespan."

Long Xiao said: "I don't understand the specifics, but I feel that those who can be priests are all very powerful; they are truly capable of anything."

Zhao Xing nodded. Ceremonial masters and priests, why are they called early-stage divine professions?

Because they are too powerful and too comprehensive.

Any deity conferred by the Great Zhou can be summoned!

Especially military priests; after the Seventh Rank, they can almost summon the Yin Spirit of any profession to possess them.

Once possessed, the priest gains some of the abilities that the Yin Spirit had during their lifetime.

All professions can summon spirits, but the restrictions are too great; they can basically only summon spirits of their own profession.

Priests, however, can summon all of them. For example, an Eighth-Rank priest can now summon the True Person Cao Xi to possess them, and then they can call the wind and rain, equivalent to a military agricultural official for a short time.

If they summon the Earl of East Lake, they immediately become a muscle-bound powerhouse.

Divine professions are literally super-god professions.

When Zhao Xing was in Gucheng, it wasn't that he hadn't thought about switching to a ceremonial master to enjoy it for a while; becoming a priest later would truly be an invincible existence at the same rank.

But for the sake of long-term planning, he eventually gave up the temporary pleasure.

Because priests are too dependent on the system of the dynasty of destiny. Once the Yin Spirit system collapses, priests will fall from their pedestals.

At that time, if you summon spirits again, the Yin Spirits without shackles will not obediently work for you; they are basically those who take money but don't do the work, or the cost is outrageously high.

If an agricultural official causes harm to a locality, the destructive power is great, so the review and promotion of agricultural officials, especially military agricultural officials, are even more stringent.

But compared to military priests, they are still a bit green.

"Priests are indeed strong," Zhao Xing said. "Unless necessary, I won't summon spirits. This time going to Anping Prefecture, I reckon I'm just a juror; I'm not the one who will actually do the work in this mission."

Zhao Xing saw it quite clearly. As an agricultural official, taking this mission is just to offer some opinions; it is impossible for him to actually be allowed to kill those Yin Spirits.

To put it bluntly, he is just going to wag his tongue.

The Yin Spirit system is something all officials must understand. When military agricultural officials are fighting abroad, if they summon spirits, they must never borrow the power of any evil spirit.

Otherwise, the destructive power of a military agricultural official plus the power of an evil spirit would truly be life-threatening.

The current Prefect of Anping Prefecture, Cui Zhe, is of the Proper Fourth-Rank Lower.

The Great Priest of the Anping Prefecture Temple, Wei Hong, is of the Proper Fourth-Rank Upper, half a rank higher than the Prefect.

After arriving at Anping Prefecture City, Zhao Xing first went to the Agricultural Office to report, and then through the channels of the Agricultural Office, he submitted a petition to the Prefecture Temple.

In this process, he naturally looked through the list of officials, big and small, in the temple. Zhao Xing vaguely felt that the name Wei Hong was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't recall it for a moment.

To show their importance, the Anping Prefecture Temple dispatched a team of priests and let Zhao Xing follow this team to handle affairs.

When he got the list the next day, Zhao Xing saw a name called Wei Xuancheng on it, and his eyebrows jumped immediately.

"Hiss, so it's him. I've encountered another ruthless person. Are they all rushing to eat from the bowl of the Great War against the Barbarians?"

Zhao Xing looked at the list, speechless.

Wei Hong was nothing much; as a Proper Fourth-Rank, he only reached the Proper Third-Rank Upper at his highest, and he was just a priest of the Imperial Mausoleum, with no real power.

But his little brother, Wei Xuancheng, became a Prime Minister during the era of Emperor Wu!

This person's greatest achievement was reforming the 'Yin Spirit system.' He single-handedly orchestrated the 'Destroy Sects and Abandon Temples' policy, solving Emperor Wu's annoyance of having too many Yin Spirits.

Of course, the ending was also very miserable. In the Yuan Emperor's era after Emperor Wu, Wei Xuancheng's grave was dug up, he was removed from the ancestral temple, and finally, he was even dragged out of the Yin Realm.

His corpse and soul were whipped, and his soul was scattered; this person died precisely under his own policy.

"Why does Lord Zhao keep looking at me?" The next day, the person sent by the temple to pick up Zhao Xing was none other than Wei Xuancheng, but at this time he was only a Junior Seventh-Rank priest.

Wei Xuancheng came from a great clan, arrogant to the high but respectful to the low. He cared less about those with high status and instead showed great respect to the grassroots people.

At this time, Wei Xuancheng was only thirty years old, but he was already a Junior Seventh-Rank, and with an older brother of the Proper Fourth-Rank, his future was boundless.

"Lord Wei's appearance resembles an old friend of mine, so I was lost in thought for a moment. I hope Lord Wei will not take offense." Zhao Xing cupped his hands.

In fact, he was only stunned for a second, but priests are very sensitive to thoughts, so he quickly found an excuse to brush it off, locked his heart, and stopped thinking about it.

Wei Xuancheng didn't care either, after all, he wasn't much older than Zhao Xing; it could be said they were both young people.

"Lord Zhao, please."

"Lord Wei, please."

Zhao Xing and Long Xiao followed Wei Xuancheng onto the flying boat and first arrived at the Prefecture Temple.

Then they paid respects to the side-hall priest responsible for leading the team this time, the Proper Sixth-Rank Lower official 'Gong Ming.'

Following thirty-two priests, including Wei Xuancheng, they boarded a 'Cloud-Rain Tower Ship.'

The method for completing the subsequent mission is as follows:

Gong Ming will take Zhao Xing to 52 folk temples.

At each location, Zhao Xing will give his disposal opinion on the folk temple: remove or keep.

He will stay inside the Cloud-Rain Tower Ship and not go down.

The prefecture priests will then carry out the actual handling.

It is not necessarily according to Zhao Xing's opinion.

If Zhao Xing's suggestions are adopted more than half the time, it counts as qualified and can be rated C. If 70% are adopted, it can be rated B; if 90% are adopted, it can be rated A.

"This mission is not difficult to say, but it's not easy either. It's nothing more than two options: remove and keep."

"You can try your luck. Even if you only say one word, remove or keep, as long as the final suggestion is consistent with the temple's action, it counts as passing."

"Even if you know nothing about temple administration, assuming you are lucky and guess correctly 26 times in a row, you can pass." Wei Xuancheng accompanied him in a private room; he was the person responsible for relaying messages and explaining things to Zhao Xing.

"If your opinion can be substantive and is adopted by Lord Gong, even if you guess wrong a few times, as long as the difference is not large, you can be promoted by one grade. Does Lord Zhao understand?"

"Yes, thank you for the guidance, Lord Wei." Zhao Xing cupped his hands.

In other words, this Gong Ming is the same as Qiu Mingyi; in the matter of grading him, he has great autonomy.

Waiting on the tower ship for two quarters of an hour, the first location was soon reached.

Wei Xuancheng first left the private room and then returned.

"The first place has arrived. Lord Gong asked me to ask you, how should the Yan Guang Temple be disposed of?"

Zhao Xing thought for a moment and said: "The temple should be removed, and its golden body destroyed!"

Wei Xuancheng said: "Do you have anything else to say? If not, I will reply."

Zhao Xing nodded and said: "Not just this one place. My attitude toward all 52 temples in Anping Prefecture is the same, and that is to remove these folk temples."

"There are three reasons for this."

Wei Xuancheng gestured: "Please speak."

"First, Anping Prefecture has privately established temples among the people. Although some cannot be counted as evil spirits and licentious sacrifices, and even occasionally have meritorious deeds, maintaining the advancement of Yin Spirits over two hundred years has already been a huge waste."

"According to the Great Zhou's Yin Spirit sacrificial system, even proper deities have annual, monthly, seasonal, and daily sacrifices. For these Yin Spirits not conferred by the imperial court, the required sacrifices are even more."

"I am not familiar with temple administration, but I am quite good at mathematics. I can calculate an account for Lord Wei and the other lords of the temple."

"Taking the Yan Guang Temple as an example, to advance over two hundred years, it must maintain a grand sacrifice every ten years and small sacrifices every year."

"In the year of the grand sacrifice, there must be daily sacrifices, four times a day, each requiring the ritual of three sacrificial animals. That is, cattle, sheep, horses, silk, jade, and bronze, totaling one hundred and sixty items."

"Even if the ritual items can be reused, it still requires 1,695 offerings a year. The other fifty-one temples, although not as powerful as the Yan Guang Temple, I have calculated that these fifty-two temples require a total of 34,453 offerings."

"Every monthly sacrifice, one must also hire guards to carry the statue for a street parade, hire temple keepers, family retainers, and musicians. Each time they are dispatched, it must be no less than three thousand people. The number of people dispatched in a year reaches one hundred thousand."

"Whenever there is a street parade, the believing commoners will buy incense, paper money, and even throw copper coins into the merit box. Even if each of the one hundred thousand people only throws 10 coins, that's over one hundred thousand taels, and in fact, this number will only be higher! The Military Realm cannot even count it."

"This is just one year, and we are only talking about those privately established temples. Anping Prefecture still has proper deities conferred by the imperial court! If the common people don't believe, that's fine, but if they do, they would rather live in poverty than fail to support the deities they believe in."

"Over two hundred years, these 52 temples have absorbed the strength of several generations of people. How could it be counted in the hundreds of millions? Have the beneficiaries really reached the common people?"

"Even if those Yin Spirits have so-called meritorious deeds, why is it necessary for wild spirits to do them?!"

"Absorbing the strength of the people and overstepping authority for private gain—this is the first reason they should be killed!"

Zhao Xing's voice was resonant. After hearing this, a flash of anger appeared in Wei Xuancheng's eyes.

These words were exactly to his taste!

Originally, he hadn't thought about so much, but Zhao Xing listed the numbers, which immediately made Wei Xuancheng furious.

Yes, what a waste?!

It might not be obvious for one generation of people, but accumulated over these two hundred years, the number is astonishing. Zhao Xing's words were very piercing. Since there is waste, there must be beneficiaries. Who are the beneficiaries?

Of course, it's the aristocratic clans!

They are like parasites clinging to the common people, continuously sucking their blood.

There are always some people who are fooled by these people without knowing it, taking out their hard-earned money and still praising them.

Zhao Xing is worthy of being an agricultural official. Using the perspective of finance as the basis for handling, he immediately moved Wei Xuancheng.

Wei Xuancheng bowed: "Lord Zhao's analysis is incisive and enlightening. Please accept my bow."

"I dare not, these are just arrogant words. If there is anything wrong, I hope Lord Wei will forgive me." Zhao Xing quickly stood up to return the courtesy.

In fact, what he said was the policy that Wei Xuancheng later presented to Emperor Wu in the court.

Of course, these things now are not as exaggerated as Wei Xuancheng's later ones.

Wei Xuancheng even wanted to reform the Imperial Mausoleum. He proposed the 'Five-Temple System,' meaning that after five generations of descendants such as the Emperor, harem concubines, commandery princesses, and commandery princes, they should not be worshipped. If they want to be worshipped, they should go to the Emperor's temple.

Zhao Xing was still holding back. Compared to the sweeping changes of the later Wei Xuancheng, his words now were nothing more than a needle.

It was enough to pierce the hearts of Wei Xuancheng and the temple priests, but it wouldn't seem too excessive.

"Please continue with the second and third points, Lord Zhao." A strange light flashed in Wei Xuancheng's eyes. He really wanted to know what other unique views Zhao Xing had.

The next chapter will be after twelve o'clock. Please give me the minimum monthly tickets for June!